Publication Type: Paper/Poster Proposal
Abstract: The literature supporting the importance of conducting certain surveys in non-English languages is growing: response rates, data quality or generalizability of findings can suffer by limiting the language of administration to English. However, poor translation and interpretation procedures can severely compromise survey quality, and lead to inaccurate comparisons between linguistic and cultural subgroups. Past literature has done much to establish an effective and rigorous methodology for written survey translation; although many of the same risks and benefits apply to oral interpretation, little work has addressed this growing trend. The use of interpreters can greatly widen capabilities for completing interviews in languages other than English, but well-designed training and procedures are necessary to maximize consistency of administration. This talk addresses potential data quality pitfalls with the use of interpreters in multilingual studies as well as recommendations to evade them.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This proposal shares findings of the impact of a preservice teacher community-based learning model on a group of teachers during their first two years of teaching.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: While our understanding of the mobilization strategies used by transnational non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is growing due to a burgeoning body of literature on this topic, very little of this literature addresses the strategies used by NGOs in highly technical issue areas. This paper begins to fill this gap in the literature by examining the mobilization strategies used by scientific and grassroots advocacy NGOs in five technically complex transnational environmental cases: chemical weapons disposal, nuclear weapons disposal, genetically modified organisms, invasive species and climate change. Some NGOs in the cases have relied on traditional mobilization strategies that include emphasizing the threats associated with the technologies or policies that they oppose, and generating information regarding them. However, the data reveal that some of the NGOs in these five cases have also used a new type of strategy that has not previously been identified by scholars. This new strategy is what I term “translational” politics or “the deliberate distillation of scientific information to a point where it can be understood by the general public and used by grassroots advocacy groups to mobilize around an issue.” The concept of “translational” politics differs from previous research that examines the role of scientists as technical consultants to advocacy organizations. Translational organizations do more than simply provide advocacy groups with scientific data. They act as brokers between scientists and advocates. While science and technology policy scholars have debated since the early 1960s whether scientists are “apolitical elites” in science and technology policy (Gilpin and Wright, 1964) or whether they are political by nature, these five cases demonstrate that this dichotomy is not so stark and that in fact a symbiotic relationship has emerged between many advocacy groups and highly scientific organizations.

Publication Type: Proceeding

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Given the centrality of the Voting Rights Act for the incorporation of ethnic /racial minorities into American electoral politics, we know remarkably little about the implementation of the act at the state and local level. This paper 1) examines voter access for language minorities under Section 203 of the VRA, which guarantees registration and election materials will be made available in select languages other than English in covered jurisdictions; and 2) analyzes original data, collected from 96 covered counties in 15 states, on the actual availability, determined by on-site field visits, of translated registration materials; and 3) determines the impact the availability of translated registration materials on minority voter registration and electoral turnout, using data on registration and voting data for Spanish-surnamed voters by county, supplemented by Census data.